Due to advances in medicine and medical treatments in general, people are living longer. As a result, the number and percentage of older people are growing in the United States and elsewhere.
However, despite medical advances, many elderly people still face chronic and debilitating health problems. Arthritis, hypertension, and heart conditions are but a few examples of the problems associated with longevity.
Treatment of these health problems often requires close compliance with relatively complex medication regimes. It is not unusual for a person having one of the above health problems to be taking four or more different prescription drugs at one time. These drugs often differ significantly in dosages, both as to time and amount, as well as in their intended physiological effects. These drugs also often differ in the severity of potentially adverse reactions due to mismedication.
Close and careful compliance with these complex medication regimes is a difficult task in itself. The difficulty is greatly enhanced, considering that the elderly must discipline themselves to follow these regimes at home, without the day-to-day support and supervision of trained hospital and pharmacy personnel, and often without the day-to-day support and supervision of their immediate families or other caregivers. Furthermore, a loss in short term memory can be naturally attributed to the aging process and to the medication themselves, resulting in forgetfulness and further confusion in scheduling compliance with complicated medication regimes.
The elderly are therefore increasingly at risk of hospitalization or death from mismedication.
An interactive patient assistance device, ideally suited to the needs of home care patients--young and old alike--is described in Kaufman et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 201,779 (filed June 2, 1988), now U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,873. The device includes a self-contained medication delivery mechanism and self-contained physical testing apparatus. The device normally retains the medication and the testing apparatus away from access by the patient. Both medication and the testing apparatus are made available to the patient, either in response to a prescribed schedule or in response to a verbal command made by the patient.
The present invention enhances and expands the flexible, interactive system described in the Kaufman et al. application.
The invention is directed to improving the overall well-being and lifestyle of home care patients who are on complicated medication regimes. The invention addresses the problems of compliance with a complicated regime of differing medications and solves these problems by providing a reasonable degree of self-sufficiency and personal control over the administration of medication without sacrificing the overall therapeutic objectives of the prescribed medical treatment.